Professional Documents
Culture Documents
AND Classification of Forces
AND Classification of Forces
AND
CLASSIFICATION
OF FORCES
As defined before, force is the
action of one body on another. It is
a vector quantity since its effect
depends on the direction as well as
on the magnitude of the action.
The effect of the force applied
to the bracket depends on
magnitude P, the angle q and
the location of the point of
application of P (point A).
P
q
A
Changing any one of these three specifications
will alter the effect of P on the bracket such
as the internal force generated in the wall or
deformation of the bracket material at any
point. Thus, the complete specification of the
action of a force must include its magnitude,
direction and point of application.
P
q
A
We can separate the action
of a force on a body into two
effects as external and
internal.
P
q
A
For the bracket, the effects of P
external to the bracket are the reactive
forces (N, V, M) exerted on the bracket
by the wall. Forces external to a body can
be either applied or reactive forces.
V
M P
N q
A
The effect of P internal to the
bracket is the resulting internal
forces and deformations
distributed throughout the
material of the bracket.
P
q
A
Forces are classified as either
contact or body forces.
A contact force is produced by direct
physical contact; an example is the
force exerted on a body by a
supporting surface.
A body force is generated when a
body is located within a force field
such as a gravitational, electric or
magnetic field. An example of a
body force is your weight.
Forces may be further classified as
concentrated or distributed.
Concentrated Force
concrete w
Distributed Force
The weight of a body is the force
of gravitational attraction
distributed over its volume and
may be taken as a concentrated
force acting through the center
of gravity.
Action and Reaction
F3 F2
F3
F2 F1
F1 Plane A
F4
Parallel forces
F2 F5 F3 F4
F1
F1
F3 F2
F4
F5
Collinear forces
T C F
T C
F
A B
T T C C
T: Tension
C: Compression
SOME COMMON TYPES
OF FORCES
CONTACT AND FRICTION
FORCES
Let’s consider two disks A and B which are in contact.
The force acting on disk B from disk A is F . F can
be
divided into two components as a normal force N ,
drawn perpendicular to the tangent line at the point
of contact and force F f , drawn parallel to the
tangent line.
tangent drawn at
direction of normal
point of contact
force passes
through the center
N
Ff
F
N is named as the normal component of the contact
force and F f is named as the friction component of
the contact force. If the contacting surfaces are
smooth, then F f can be neglected ( F f = 0); but if the
contacting surfaces are rough it has to be taken into
consideration.
N
Ff
F
The relationship between N and F f is given by
Ff = mN
where m is a dimensionless coefficient of
friction varying between 0 and 1.
N
Ff
F
If one of the contacting surfaces is flat then
the tangent will be parallel to the surface.
tangent Ff F
N
tangent
FORCES IN STRINGS,
CABLES, WIRES,
ROPES, CHAINS AND
BELTS
Forces in strings,
cables, etc. are always T1
taken along the string,
cable, etc. and their
direction always
T2
points away from the T3
body in consideration.
T
T1
They exert force
only when they are
tight. When loose T2
they exert no force. T3
Hence, they always
work in tension.
Usually their weights
are neglected
compared to the
forces they carry or
support.
FORCES IN
PULLEY – BELT SYSTEMS
Pulleys are wheels with grooves that are used to
change the directions of belts or ropes and
generate a higher output load with a much smaller
input force.
T1
T1 = T2 T2
Unless stated otherwise, or apparent from the problem,
the tension forces at both sides of a belt are taken as
equal. They are equal as long as the belt does not slide
on the pulley, and the pulley rotates freely with a
constant velocity.
T1
T1 = T2
T2
FORCES IN
SPRINGS
Spring force is always directed along the spring and
is in the direction as if to return the spring into its
undeformed length.
Fspring=kx (Spring force)
k: spring constant,
x: deformation of the spring
Fspring
equilibrium
stretched
Fspring
compressed
Fspring
THREE DIMENSIONAL
DESCRIPTION OF
FORCE
* When the direction angles of a force is given;
The angles, the line of action of a force makes with the x, y and z
axes are named as direction angles. The cosines of these angles
are called direction cosines; they specify the line of action of a
vector with respect to coordinate axes.
x
F Fx i Fy j Fz k
Fx F cosq x , Fy F cosq y , Fz F cosq z
F F cosq x i F cosq y j F cosq z k
F Fn
F F cosq x i cosq y j cosq z k
n cosq x i cosq y j cosq z k li mj nk
z
n 1 , l 2 m 2 n 2 1 k
Fz
qz
qy Fy j
Fx y
qx
i
x
* When coordinates of two points along the line of action of a
force is given;
z
rB / A
B xB , yB , zB
nF F
y
A x A , y A , z A
x
rB / A
F FnF F
rB / A
F F cosq x i cosq y j cosq z k
F F
xB x A i y B y A j z B z A k
xB x A y B y A z B z A
2 2 2
* When two angles describing the line of action of a
force is given;
z
Fz Fxy F cos , Fz F sin
F F Fxy Fz
Fy
Fx Fxy cosq F cos cosq
y Fy Fxy sin q F cos sin q
Fx q
Fxy F Fx i Fy j Fz k
x
F F cos cosqi F cos sin qj F sin k
F F cos cosqi cos sin qj sin k
F FnF
nF cos cosqi cos sin qj sin k